1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor package, and more particularly, to a semiconductor package in which a semiconductor chip and a lead are connected by a conductive layer instead of a wire, and to a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a semiconductor package, a semiconductor chip is supported by a lead frame, and it is the lead of the lead frame that electrically connects the semiconductor chip to an external circuit.
Referring to FIG. 1, in a typical semiconductor package a semiconductor chip of a memory device is mounted on a pad 11, and inner leads 14 of a lead frame are attached to the pad 11 at the periphery of the semiconductor chip 12 by an adhesive 13 such as an insulating double-sided tape. The semiconductor chip 12 and the inner lead 14 are also bonded by a wire 15, and the resultant structure is sealed with molding material 16.
Meanwhile, as a semiconductor chip size becomes smaller, it has been more difficult to connect the semiconductor chip of a small-size to the lead by a wire bonding method because the distance between the inner leads (or `pitch`) is correspondingly reduced. Thus, it is difficult to bond the wire precisely to the inner leads of a fine pitch. The wire bonding method cannot be used for inner leads with a fine pitch of 0.2 mm or less, which adversely affects the reliability of the semiconductor package.